Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
ASHOK ALIAS SOMANNA GOWDA AND ANR.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF KARNATAKA BY ITS CHIEF SECY. AND ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT11/10/1991
BENCH:
KASLIWAL, N.M. (J)
BENCH:
KASLIWAL, N.M. (J)
PUNCHHI, M.M.
CITATION:
1992 AIR 80 1991 SCR Supl. (1) 493
1992 SCC (1) 28 JT 1991 (4) 160
1991 SCALE (2)796
ACT:
Civil Services:
Karnataka State Civil Services (Direct Recruitment by Selec-
tion) Rules,1973:
Selection of Assistant Engineers-- Keeping 33.3 of the
total marks for intervie,,---Whether valid.
HEADNOTE:
The Respondent-State invited applications for recruit-
ment of Assistant Engineers (Civil) and (Mech.) for the
Public Works Department. According to the rules governing
the recruitment, viz. Karnataka State Civil Services (Direct
Recruitment by Selection) Rules, 1973 the marks obtained In
the qualifying examination and the marks secured in the
interview would be the basis for selection. The total marks
for qualifying examination was kept at 100 and 50 marks were
kept for interview. Thus the marks allotted for interview
was 333% of the total marks.
Appellant No. 1 who applied for the post of Assistant
Engineer (Civil) secured 29.50 marks out of 50 marks in the
interview, his marks in the qualifying examination were
69.96, totalling in all 99.46 marks out of 150. The second
appellant, a candidate for the post of Assistant Engineer
(Mech.) secured 24.83 marks in the interview and his marks
in the qualifying examination being 66.40, he got 91.23
marks out of the total of 150 marks. Both the appellants
were not selected as they got less marks titan the last
candidate selected, and they filed a petition before the
State Administrative Tribunal challenging the rides on the
ground that the percentage of marks for viva voce fixed at
333 was excessive. The Tribunal having dismissed the peti-
tions, the appellants have preferred the present appeal, by
special leave.
Allowing the appeal, this Court,
HELD: 1. 50 marks for interview out of 150 are clearly
in violation of the settled law on this point. Some candi-
dates have been selected though
494
they had secured much lesser marks than the appellants in
the qualifying examination but had secured very high marks
in the viva voce out of 50 marks kept for this purpose. If
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the marks for interview were kept even at 15% of the total
marks and merit list was prepared accordingly then both the
appellants would have been selected and a large number of
selected candidates would have gone much lower in the merit
list than the appellants. [495 G, 496 A-B]
Ashok Kumar Yadav & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors.,
[1988] Supp. S.C.R. 657; Mohinder Sain Garg v. State of
Punjab & Ors., J.T. 1990 (4) S.C. 704, relied on.
2. Though the Karnataka State Civil Services (Direct
Recruitment by Selection) Rules are clearly in violation of
the dictum laid down by this Court, since the result of the
selections was declared in 1987 and the selected candidates
have already joined the posts, it would not be just and
proper to quash the selections on the above ground. Further
the selections were made according to the Rules of 1973 and
this practice is being consistently followed for the last 17
years and there Is no allegation of any malafides in the
matter of selections. [496-C-D]
3. The respondents are directed to give appointment to
the two appellants on the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil)
and Assistant Engineer (Mech.), respectively in Public Works
Department within a period of two months in case the appel-
lants are found suitable In all other respects according to
the Rules. [496-E]
4. Since the appointments under the Rules were made
way back in 1987, the case of other candidates cannot be
considered as they never approached for redress within
reasonable time. The relief is thus restricted only to the
present appellants who were vigilant in making grievance and
approaching the Tribunal in time. [496-F-G]
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4088 of 1991.
From the Judgment and Order dated 24.5.1990 of the
Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, Bangalore in Application
No. 887 of 1989 C/W. A. No. 2101/1989.
495
Naresh Kaushik, Mrs. Lalita Kaushik and Shankar Divate
for the Appellants.
M. Veerappa, S.R. Bhatt and Naveen R. Nath for the Respond-
ents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KASLIWAL, J. Special leave granted.
Sri Ashok alias Somanna Gowda appellant No. 1 is a
Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) having secured.. first class
with distinction getting 69.96% marks from Karnataka Univer-
sity. Shri Rajendra appellant No. 2 is a Bachelor of Engi-
neering (Mech.) from Karnataka University and secured 66.40
marks in the qualifying examination. The Govt. of Karnataka
by notification dated 4th April, 1985 invited applications
for recruitment of Asstt. Engineers (Civil) and (Mech.) for
the Public Works Deptt. The selections were to be made on
the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination
and marks secured in the interview, in accordance with the
K.S.C.S. (Direct Recruitment By Selection) Rules, 1973
(hereinafter referred to as ’the Rules’). According to these
Rules total marks for qualifying examination were kept at
100 and 50 for interview. Thus the marks allotted for inter-
view amounted to 33.3% of the total marks. Applications were
invited for 300 posts of Civil Engineers and 100 Mechanical
Engineers initially and subsequently added additional posts
of 150 Civil Engineers and 10 Mechanical Engineers thus in
all 450 Civil Engineers and 110 Mechanical Engineers. Both
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the appellants applied for the posts of their choices in the
Public Works Department, Government of Karnataka. Appellant
No. 1 secured 29.50 marks out of 50 marks in the interview
and 69.96 marks in the qualifying examination thus in all
99.46 marks out of 150. The 2nd appellant obtained 24.83
marks in the interview and 66.40 marks in the qualifying
examination thus in all 91.23 marks out of 150. Both the
appellants were not selected in merit as the last candidate
selected for the above posts secured higher marks than the
appellants. The appellants filed a petition before the
Karnataka Administrative. Tribunal challenging the Rules on
the ground that the percentage of marks for viva voce as
33.3 were excessive and in violation of the decisions of
this Court. The Tribunal by its order dated 24th May, 1990
dismissed the petitions and the appellants aggrieved against
the aforesaid decision have approached this Court by grant
of special leave. It is not necessary to examine’ the matter
in detail inasmuch as 50 marks for interview out of 150 are
clearly in violation of the judgment of this Court in Ashok
Kumar Yadav & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors., [1988] Sup.
S.C.R., 657 and Mohinder Sain Garg v. State of Punjab &
Ors., J .T. 1990 (4) S.C., 704. On a direction given by this
Court on 4th September, 1991 the record of the
496
Selection Committee was produced before this Court at the
time of hearing. From a perusal of the marks awarded to the
selected candidates it is clear that a large number of
candidates have been selected though they had secured much
lesser marks than the appellants in the qualifying examina-
tion but had secured very high marks in the viva voce out of
50 marks kept for this purpose. Thus it is an admitted
position that if the marks for interview were kept even at
15% of the total marks and merit list is prepared according-
ly then both the appellants were bound to be selected and a
large number of selected candidates would have gone much
lower in the merit list than the appellants. In view of the
fact that the result of the impugned selections was declared
in 1987 and the selected candidates have already joined the
posts, we do not consider it just and proper to quash the
selections on the above ground. Further the selections were
made according to the Rules of 1973 and this practice is
being consistently followed for the last 17 years and there
is no allegation of any malafides in the matter of the
impugned selections. However, the Rules are clearly in
violation of the dictum laid down by this Court in the above
referred cases and in case the marks for viva voce would
have been kept say at 15% of the total marks, the appellants
before us were bound to be selected on the basis of marks
secured by them in interview, calculated on the basis of
converting the same to 15% of the total marks.
We, therefore, allow the appeal and direct the respond-
ents to give appointment to the appellant Ashok alias Soman-
na Gowda on the post of Asstt. Engineer (Civil) and appel-
lant Rajendra on the post of Asstt. Engineer (Mech.) in
Public Works Department within a period of two months of the
communication of this order in case the appellants are found
suitable in all other respects according to the Rules.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State of Karnata-
ka pointed out that there are many other candidates who had
secured much higher marks than the appellants in case the
above criteria is applied for selection. In view of the fact
that appointments under the impugned Rules were made as back
as in 1987 and only the present appellants had approached
the Tribunal for relief, the case of other candidates cannot
be considered as they never approached for redress within
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reasonable time. We are thus inclined to grant relief only
to the present appellants who were vigilant in making griev-
ance and approaching the Tribunal in time. Learned counsel
for the State also submitted that the State Government has
already framed new rules, and as such we do not find it
necessary to quash the Rules under which the present selec-
tions were made as they are no longer in existence. No order
as to costs.
G.N. Appeal
allowed.
497